Monday, January 01, 2007

This is officially going to be the post that sits at the bottom of everything that describes information about me as a reviewer (what I will read, what I won't read, how to get in touch if you want to send me something to review, etc.).

Note: I am currently closed to new submissions of books for review. Those who have a previous review relationship with me are free to send work, but I cannot take on any other authors or publishers at this point. I'm swimming in books. This should hopefully change soon.

What I will read:

Science Fiction (any form)

Fantasy (any form)

Young Adult (only science fiction or fantasy, or related styles--no general fiction please)

Romance (only stories that are speculative in nature--books by Luna would be an example)

Magical Realism (provided it leans more to the speculative/fantasy end rather than just being something a little odd--think The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne or works by Zoran Zivkovic)

Urban Fantasy (just to clarify in case someone makes a distinction between standard fantasy and urban)

Nonfiction (science, history, guides, etc. provided it has some use to writers or readers of genre--science books work really well in this category as well as fun little guides and such)

Advanced copies, printed manuscripts provided they are being published by a publisher, or any other form of unfinished work that has yet to be released to the market. (please ask before you send anything electronically)

Small Presses (I would prefer these simply because they don't get enough exposure as it is)

Large Presses (I have nothing against them and I will read from them just as I will anything else)

Graphic Novels or artistic books related to genre. (I will make an exception here for graphic novels that are not genre, especially for manga)

Children's literature (not Dr. Seuss, but older stuff such as chapter books and the like)

Works in English (I only speak one language, so the work has to be in English)

Translated Works (as long as it follows everything else)

If you don't see something listed here or in the list below feel free to email me anyway if you think I might be interested in your work.

What I won't read:

Self-published books. This is a new development. I apologize to anyone who has a self-published book that happens to be good, but I've grown tired of having to wade through some particularly wretched works in the last year or two. There's a certain quality that I'm guaranteed with legitimately published novels, and self-publishing cannot promise that, nor can its authors.

Books published by a press you invented to publish yourself. This is the same thing as self-publishing and I do not support the deception of the consumer in order to make yourself look better. You either embrace self-publishing or you don't.

Anything outside of my typical reading (i.e.: works that are not speculative in nature, although you can query me if you think I might be interested anyway as I break this rule sometimes).

Erotica (I will make an exception if your work has a particularly strong SF or F plotline that coincides with the dirtier stuff)

Hentai comics (sorry, this just isn't of interest to me and my audience really isn't for you anyway)

Books that revolve around gore and explicit violence (I just don't have time to assess this sort of work since gore and violence should be tasteful)

Non-English Works (as I said above, I only speak one language)

Want to send me something?Great! Use my email: arconna@(no spam)yahoo.com (remove the no spam) and tell me what you'd like to send to me. I'll give you my address and all will be set. I don't want my address on here for obvious reasons (I get enough junk mail), but I would be happy to read your work.Publishers, authors, editors, etc. may send me books. Just email me and I'd be happy to work with you.Note: Publishers who already have a relationship with me do not have to query or send me an email to send me new work. You probably already know what I like, so send things as you see fit.

3 comments:

hundreds of agents and several publishing companies missed out in 2009 when three self-published books made the New York best seller list. Now while I acknowledge that not all self-published books are created equal I thing you are seriously bowing down to the whims of the dinosaurs that run the publishing world currently if you ignore ALL self-published works. Perhaps you should take the time to research which self-publishing publishers consistently put out good books. ie: Infinity Publishing for one, and form a relationship with them so that they automatically forward you works that you know will be of quality. That way instead of missing out on a vital portion of the books being published today you can help establish good authors.

Mark: No self-publisher can guarantee me the quality that a traditional publisher can. None. This is why I no longer take SPed books. I know that the books I get from places like Tor are edited by professionals. They may not be perfect books, but I know that I will not be stuck with some of the garbage I've had shoved down my throat. I don't have the time or patience to accommodate every single wannabe author who self-publishes a book on whatever POD printing place they decide to go to. I read to be entertained, and when that reading becomes a long collection of irritations, I cut that segment out. If this happens with any press, large or small, I will do the same; it hasn't happened yet.

As for the three SPed books on the NYT bestseller list: they were all miscellaneous non-fiction books, which is not what I read anyway, and is entirely a different thing from fiction, not just in sales, but in the requirement for literary quality. They didn't really do anything particularly magical.

I like the dinosaurs, thank you very much. I'm not so jaded against traditional publishing to think they're all evil corporations trying to steal our words. They serve a vital purpose, the big one being that they provide editors to do the work that SPing cannot do. When SPers figure out a way to a) not deceive the consumer and b) allow the consumer to easily determine quality, then maybe I'll change my mind. Nobody in the SP world seems interested in doing that.